This boost to the local economy has paid dividends for Tammy Fields, who found work once again when the federal government and GSA ramped up the Bean Center solar project.

Boosting Solar Performance

GSA is using Recovery Act funds to install energy-saving solar technology at the Maj. Gen. Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indianapolis. The Bean Center is GSA’s largest building in the Great Lakes Region and was cited as one of the “100 Recovery Act Projects that are Changing America” by Vice President Joe Biden.

The installation of 5,760 solar panels on the building’s roof will generate 1.8 megawatts of renewable energy. Additional panels will serve as a solar lab, where the performance of four types of solar technology will be researched by GSA and the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories to determine which panels work best in the Midwestern climate.

The project was completed and dedicated in July 2011. The work cost nearly $24 million and included re-insulating, reinforcing, and replacing two-thirds (about 320,000 square feet) of the center’s roof. The development created 75 to 100 jobs and pumped nearly $25 million into the economy.

This boost to the local economy has paid dividends for Tammy Fields, a roofer for 13 years. When the building industry took a downturn, she lost her job. Then, the federal government and GSA ramped up the Bean Center solar project, and she found work once again. Watch her story.